What Does Numbers 5:10 Mean?
And every man's set-apart things are his; whatever any man gives to the priest, it is his.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And every man’s hallowed things shall be his: whatsoever any man giveth the priest, it shall be his.THE KEY
The verse separates sacred status from transfer: what is set apart can remain yours, while what you give the priest becomes his.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks precisely about belonging: what is set apart remains the person’s, while what is given to the priest belongs to the priest. Sacred status and transferred possession are distinct; the repeated “his” marks that boundary.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that calling something sacred automatically transfers its possession; the verse distinguishes what is set apart from what is actually given.
THE ROOT
קֳדָשָׁיו
qodashav
GROWS FROM
קדש
to set apart, make distinct for a sacred purpose
“set-apart” in this verse is qodashav. “Hallowed things” are things marked as set apart. The verse still calls them his: their sacred status does not itself transfer their belonging to the priest.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: set apart
קָדוֹשׁ
The same root describes the status of what is hallowed here.
miqdash: sanctuary, a set-apart place
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary carries the same root into a place, showing that set-apartness marks a distinct status or use.
יִתֵּן
yitten
GROWS FROM
נתן
to give, put, or set
“gives” in this verse is yitten. Yitten comes from a root that means both to give and to put or set. Giving here places the gift within the priest’s share, making its belonging explicit.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: gift
מַתָּנָה
A gift is something placed into another’s keeping.
nethinim: temple servants, literally “given ones”
נְתִינִים
Their name uses the same root to express being assigned or given to a service.
THE PATTERN
Scripture makes belonging visible through what is set apart, given, or rendered to its rightful recipient.
And all the tenth of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD's; it is set apart to the LORD.They said to him, Caesar's. Then he said to them, Give back therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.While it remained with you, was it not yours? And when it was sold, was it not in your own power? Why have you set this deed in your heart? You have not lied to humankind, but to God.THE THREAD
And the LORD said unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given you the watch of my lifted offerings, of all the set-apart things of the children of Israel. To you I have given them, by reason of the oil smeared upon you, and to your sons, by an engraved statute for the ages.This verse uses the same root, נתן (nathan, give/place), for the priestly share. It makes explicit the movement compressed here: sacred things are distinguished from the things placed into the priest’s portion.
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